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Seven Keys

April 22, 2020 | By RETIRED REAR ADM. DANIEL W. MCKINNON JR.

BY RETIRED REAR ADM. DANIEL W. MCKINNON JR., SC, USN, COMMANDER NAVAL SUPPLY SYSTEMS COMMAND AND 36TH CHIEF OF SUPPLY CORPS
Reprinted from January/February 1990 Navy Supply Corps Newsletter

So what is a Supply Corps officer? What is the Supply Corps? I think it is what I felt it was 30 years ago when I made a decision to remain on active Navy duty, to serve my country, to see the world… to remain in a Corps of officers who hold what I call the “Seven Keys.”

Supply Corps officers:

  1. Join the Navy to pursue a calling that combines service to country, a love of the Navy, and an interest in the conduct of business affairs.
  2. Are naval officers who recognize that theirs is a career commitment to the support of Navy warfighters and the successful conduct of the Navy mission at sea and around the world.
  3. Are responsible stewards of the Navy’s materiel resources, managing and guarding a supply pipeline that stretches from industrial America to storerooms and shops at sea.
  4. Are effective servants ready to meet the service and morale needs of the “Navy Family.”
  5. Are competent managers of Navy resources whose professional pride is derived from demanding quality, reducing cost, challenging methods, improving service, and leveraging the application of resources that have been entrusted to their care.
  6. Enjoy career paths that uniquely take them horizontally across all warfighting areas and throughout the Navy operating and support establishment.
  7. Possess the highest ethical standards, having long ago understood the meaning of “accountability” and that “supply” connotes possession of the keys to the storehouse of public trust